Mészáros, Márta (1931–)

Hungarian screenwriter and film director. Name variations: Marta Meszaros. Born Sept 19, 1931, in Budapest, Hungary; dau. of Laszlos Mészáros and a mother who died while Mészáros was young; attended VGIK (Moscow Academy of Cinematographic Art); married a Romanian citizen, in 1957 (div. 1959); m. Miklos Jancso (director), c. 1966 (div.).

Prolific filmmaker, achieved international renown for her thoughtful, incisive portrayals of life behind the former Iron Curtain; fled Hungary with family (1936); returned to Hungary (1946); made 1st short film (1954); moved to Romania (c. 1955); returned to Hungary (1959); joined Mafilm Group 4 (mid-1960s); made 1st feature film, The Girl (1968); won Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear award for Adoption (1975); won Fipresci Prize at Cannes Film Festival for Nine Months (1976); won Cannes Film Festival Special Jury Prize for the autobiographical Diary for My Children (1984); co-wrote and directed The Last Soviet Star (1991), the story of Liubov Orlova, and Sisi, a 26-segment series about the life of Empress Elizabeth of Bavaria (1837–1898) which was shown on Hungarian tv (1992); other films include Don't Cry, Pretty Girls (1970), Riddance (1973), Two Women (1977), On the Move (1979), The Heiresses (1980), Mother and Daughter (1981), Land of Mirages (1983), Diary for My Loves (1987), Travel Diary (1989), Diary for My Father and Mother (1990) and Gypsy Romeo (1991).

See also Catherine Portuges, Screen Memories: The Hungarian Cinema of Márta Mészáros (Indiana U. Press, 1993); and Women in World History.